According to Mission Commander Chun Wang, he aspires to take a trip around the moon aboard Starship, a SpaceX spacecraft. SpaceX is willing to help him with this unprecedented mission, even though Starship has yet to make a single orbit around Earth. The round trip journey to Mars would take approximately two years.
Mission commander Chun Wang works on his laptop with Earth looming outside the window of SpaceX's Dragon capsule during the Fram2 mission in 2025. .
But first, he wants to take a ride around the moon on SpaceX's Starship. And SpaceX is willing to work with him. Wang shared his ambition during a SpaceX webcast focusing on the first attempt to launch a next-generation Starship V3 rocket from SpaceX's Starbase in Texas for a test flight. The launch attempt had to be called off, a rugged nature reserve in the South Atlantic Ocean that's been called the world's most remote island.
It was an apt setting for a conversation about Wang's out-of-this-world idea.that sent him and three other crew members into polar orbit in a SpaceX Dragon capsule for three and a half days. SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot said Wang is already back in line to take on"the first interplanetary mission on a Starship," even though the rocket is still in testing mode and hasn't yet made a single orbit around Earth.
"It's going to be a flyby mission of Mars," Wang said. "A lot of people are talking about how Mars will be like: 'We're going to fly to Mars, we're going to land on Mars, we're going to build a city on Mars. ' But let's get this started with a flyby. ...
It will light the fire. It will ignite the imagination, and it will build the momentum.
" No timetable was given for the mission, but SpaceX said the round trip would take two years. Wang wasn't worried about getting bored during the cruise to and from the Red Planet.
"This is actually my style of fireworks," he said. "I can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff to landing. So I think I will enjoy the trip.
"but became a citizen of Malta in 2023. He played a role in founding two cryptocurrency ventures, F2Pool and Stakefish, and his net worth was said to be As a warmup for the Mars flyby, Wang said he intends to join California engineer/investor Dennis Tito and his wife, Akiko Tito, on a Starship trip around the moon.
SpaceX says that weeklong mission would come within 200 kilometers of the lunar surface and advance the development of Starship's systems for deep-space, long-duration missions.
"Even though it's just a flyby, it will try a lot of things that have never been attempted before," Wang said of the round-the-moon mission.became the first American space tourist. At first, he suggested that he'd be willing to fund at least part of the mission, but a couple of months later he said thatThe next billionaire to look into leading a space mission beyond Earth orbit was Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune after founding Zozotown, Japan's largest online fashion mall.
Maezawaon a plan that would involve sending the billionaire and a crew of artists and performers around the moon on Starship. As part of the deal, Maezawa committed to paying SpaceX an undisclosed amount to support Starship's development. But he "It's a developmental project, so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch," Maezawa said at the time.
"I can't plan my future in this situation, and I feel terrible making the crew members wait longer, hence the difficult decision to cancel. " Will Wang's plan for a Mars flyby go further than Maezawa's plan for a moon trip? Or will NASA have to be calling the shots for any mission that goes out that far? Maybe Wang should compare notes with Tito and Maezawa.
Chun Wang Spacex Starship Mission Commander Rugged Nature Reserve South Atlantic Ocean Spacex Webcast Mars Flyby Mission Interplanetary Mission Building A City On Mars Space Exploration Malta
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